Anything Could Happen by Lucy Diamond #arc #book #review #Netgalley #AnythingCouldHappen @LDiamondAuthor @QuercusBooks

 

Anything Could Happen By Lucy Diamond

Published by Quercus Books

Publication Date 6th January 2022

Genre: Womens Fiction, Romance

Book Description:

Your big secret is out. What next?

For Lara and her daughter Eliza, it has always been just the two of them. But when Eliza turns eighteen and wants to connect with her father, Lara is forced to admit a secret that she has been keeping from her daughter her whole life.

Eliza needs answers - and so does Lara. Their journey to the truth will take them on a road trip across England and eventually to New York, where it all began. Dreams might have been broken and opportunities missed, but there are still surprises in store...

Anything Could Happen is a warm, wise, funny and uplifting novel about love, second chances and the unexpected and extraordinary paths life can take us down.

My Thoughts:

Lucy Diamond is a born writer; every time I start one of her books I step straight into the world she has penned. No stuttering starts or feeling that each character needs an introduction, you feel like you already know these people and the story just flows right from the first page. This latest book 'Anything Could Happen' is no exception.

Single mum Lara and daughter Eliza have always been close - it's just been the two of them for almost as long as Eliza can remember. Almost - but at one point there was also her dad Steve who left them when Eliza was very young. Lara has noticed that since Eliza approached her 18th birthday she has become quite an angry individual - but all teenagers do at one stage or another don't they? A phase they go through?  This thought prompts Lara to consider her own life story, back to the time when she travelled to New York for work with all the hopes and promises that held. And then the reality which followed.

The characters in this story are very real and believable throughout, maybe the storyline could be seen as perhaps a little predictable by some but it sat well with me.  The situation the characters find themselves in is presented from each person's perspective and their feelings are expressed to the reader in an honest manner. The subject matter could have led the author to make a couple of the characters quite bitter and nasty but I was pleased to see that, although this was an option which was lightly suggested at some points, the characters were better, more self-respecting than that. I don't feel the book would have worked as well had their reactions been different.

I would have loved to be able to sit and read this book in one sitting but sadly this wasn't an option in the run up to Christmas. It is a book which leaves you with that feel-good glow that a good family brings, even if your family set up is not quite the traditional one.

My thanks to the publisher Quercus who allowed me the privilege of reading this book ahead of publication via NetGalley.

About the Author:

Lucy Diamond is an English author of female lead fiction, whose real name is Sue Mongredien.

She grew up in Nottingham, and studied English Literature at Leeds University.

Mongredien now lives in Bath. 

Her first book, Any Way You Want Me, was published by Pan Macmillan in 2007. 

In 2011, her novel Sweet Temptations was shortlisted for the Melissa Nathan Award for Comedy Romance.

In 2021, after 14 years with Pan MacMillan, Mongredien moved to Quercus.

Mongredien has also authored several children's books, including books in The Sleepover Club series, the Rainbow Magic series, the Oliver Moon series, and the Captain Cat series.